Attempt To Stop CloudTrail Logging

Status: test
Severity: medium
Log source: product aws, service cloudtrail
Author: Zach Mathis (@yamatosecurity)
Source: github.com/Yamato-Security/suzaku-rules

A user attempted to disable CloudTrail logging but it was denied due to a lack of permissions. Sample command line: aws cloudtrail stop-logging --name TrailName

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Stealth	`T1562.008` Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Cloud Logs

Event coverage

Provider	Event
AWS-cloudtrail	StopLogging

Rules detecting the same action

Other rules on this platform that filter on the same API call or operation.

AWS CloudTrail Important Change (Sigma)
AWS CloudTrail Log Suspended (Elastic)
AWS Defense Evasion Stop Logging Cloudtrail (Splunk)
CloudTrail Logging Stopped (Sigma)

Rule body yaml

title: Attempt To Stop CloudTrail Logging
id: 21a06b91-4860-4d2c-96fb-5c5c6374e3b2
status: test
description: |
    A user attempted to disable CloudTrail logging but it was denied due to a lack of permissions.
    Sample command line: aws cloudtrail stop-logging --name TrailName
references:
    - https://securitylabs.datadoghq.com/cloud-security-atlas/attacks/stopping-cloudtrail-trail/
    - https://research.splunk.com/cloud/8a2f3ca2-4eb5-4389-a549-14063882e537/
    - https://logrhythm.com/blog/aws-defense-evasion-and-centralized-multi-account-logging/
    - https://medium.com/daniel-grzelak/disrupting-aws-logging-a42e437d6594
    - https://pages.awscloud.com/rs/112-TZM-766/images/Visibility_detect_respond_AWS_SANS_whitepaper.pdf
    - https://traildiscover.cloud/#CloudTrail-StopLogging
author: Zach Mathis (@yamatosecurity)
date: 2025-04-23
modified: 2025-04-23
tags:
    - attack.defense-evasion
    - attack.t1562.008 # Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Cloud Logs
logsource:
    product: aws
    service: cloudtrail
detection:
    selection:
        eventSource: 'cloudtrail.amazonaws.com'
        eventName: 'StopLogging'
        errorCode: 'AccessDenied'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Admins trying to turn off unneeded logging but lacked permissions.
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    eventSource: 'cloudtrail.amazonaws.com'
    eventName: 'StopLogging'
    errorCode: 'AccessDenied'

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`errorCode`	eq	`AccessDenied`
`eventName`	eq	`StopLogging`
`eventSource`	eq	`cloudtrail.amazonaws.com`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

Attempt To Stop CloudTrail Logging

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Attempt To Stop CloudTrail Logging

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`